California hydropower may dry up

SAN FRANCISCO – Spring is arriving with the Pacific Northwest measuring near record-low snowfall, and much of the rest of the West below average. But what California is experiencing is historically low snowpack – a meager accumulation that has serious implications not only for the state but potentially for the entire West if the drought persists.

Snowpack at 12 percent of average in the Sierra Nevada means there is less runoff to feed rivers and streams that run through dams to generate cleanly produced hydroelectric power. Despite the state’s ambitious clean-air goals, officials are turning to dirtier, more costly fossil-fuel plants to fill some of the power gap. They also will seek more hydroelectricity imports in a region expected to have markedly less to offer this summer.

At a minimum, “we’ll keep the lights on,” said Robert Weisenmiller, chairman of the California Energy Commission. “We’re not concerned about not having power.”

“What we’re concerned about,” Weisenmiller said, “is the power is going to come from different sources not as benign” for the health of people and the environment as hydroelectricity.